PANAJI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday accused the Congress of rendering the proposed alliance of like-minded parties defunct, just a fortnight before the crucial Zilla Panchayat elections in the coastal state.
AAP Goa president Amit Palekar told reporters that his party deliberately stayed away from the proposed Goa Opposition Alliance(GOA) as they (his party) did not want to be part of an “unrealistic” and “unprepared” coalition.
Goa’s opposition parties, including the Congress, Goa Forward Party and Revolutionary Goans Party, had proposed the Grand Opposition Alliance (GOA) ahead of the December 20 Zilla Panchayat polls. But the formal announcement on it is yet to happen.
Palekar pointed out that there is no formal announcement on the alliance (GOA) even as the state is only 14 days away from polling for the Zilla Panchayat elections. He also said that the Congress party has remained unresponsive, refusing to announce all its candidates even as the polling day is inching closer.
Goa has 50 Zilla Panchayat constituencies while Congress has announced candidates on in few in its first list.
The AAP leader pointed out that two components of the GOA — the Goa Forward Party and the Revolutionary Goans Party — have fielded candidates against each other in constituencies like Shiroda in South Goa. Palekar stated that the RGP has released its list of candidates on Thursday, announcing to contest from Shiroda, where GFP is already campaigning with its own candidate.
He said that AAP did not want to be part of such “an unrealistic and unprepared alliance”.
Palekar said that his party has announced its candidates in advance after deciding to contest the election on its own. He said that his party has given honest candidates in various constituencies. “We will support like-minded Independent candidates in some of the constituencies where we are not fielding our candidates,” he said adding that the main idea is to defeat the BJP.
Palekar said that the people of Goa want to defeat the BJP but at the same time, they don’t trust the GOA kind of alliance.
